Oak Island 1179 Map

Last night on the season opening episode of History's "Oak Island" they showed an interesting map of what purports to be Nova Scotia that is dated in Roman Numbers in the upper right corner to 1179.  The person who brought the map to the production company's attention is a friend named Zena Halpern, who was featured in the show in a phone call.  Zena and I, and this map, go back about 10 years when Zena first brought it to my attention in late 2008.  What I'd like to do in this blog post is make clear a few facts about this map and be open to questions.   

Before going any further, people need to understand this map is clearly a copy drawn on modern paper that at best, likely dates back to the late 1700's.  Keep in mind this is a picture, or a copy, of the original.  It could also be a second or third generation of a copy of the original, we simply don't know.  This will no doubt lead skeptics to dismiss the map and it's obvious connection to the Knights Templar having been in North America over three hundred years before Columbus.

What first caught my attention were the two Hooked X's that appear on the map; one in the third X (Roman number 10) in the date in the upper right hand corner, and in the number 45 (XLV) just above the word "Nord" (North) on the center, right side of the map.  The important thing is these two Hooked X's on the map appeared before I published my book, The Hooked X: Key to the Secret History of North America, in 2009.  Prior to this, no one could have known of the direct connection I made of this symbol to the Knights Templar.  In the book, I proposed the Kensington Rune Stone, with 22 Hooked X's, was a land claim placed by a party of Knights Templar traveling with a least one highly initiated Cistercian monk who likely authored the inscription.  The presence of these two Hooked X's on this map, three years before my book was published, is powerful evidence consistent with a connection to the Templar's.

Another prominent feature of the map are numerous vertical lines, with Roman Numbers, that appear to indicate longitude.  Skeptics are sure to complain that longitude was unknown in 1179 and argue it can't be an authentic map.  I maintain the opposite could be true and the map appears to indicate that longitude was indeed known and was likely was part of secret knowledge known by the Templar's. 

Zena graciously allowed me to publish part of this map in my latest book, Akhenaten to the Founding Fathers: The Mysteries of the Hooked X.  Now that the complete map has been published on the show there is a lot more to talk about.  You can be sure the Lagina brothers, and Zena, will have more to say on upcoming episodes of the show.  There will also be more about Zena's research in her forthcoming book which should be published in the next six months.